[Kabar-indonesia] Bali execution bomb fear

[Joyo at aol.com]

Herald Sun (Melbourne)
Thursday, November 16, 2006

Execution bomb fear

By Mark Dunn

INDONESIAN authorities are delaying the executions of the
main Bali bombers for fear their deaths will spark a wave of
bombings, experts believe.

''My guess is the Government is trying to hold off on a
verdict,'' South-East Asian security expert Zachary Abuza
said.

Bali bombers Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron were
scheduled to be executed on August 22.

But they have since filed a final Supreme Court appeal
questioning the sentence and method of execution on
constitutional grounds.

''Once they are executed, they will be bracing for
retaliatory bombings and the Government doesn't want that,
especially because it passed an important psychological
threshold with no bombings in September and October,'' Prof
Abuza said.

''That gives the public confidence that the Government has
things under control.''

But Australian National University senior analyst Greg Fealy
said the delays in executions were caused by the Indonesian
Government's desire to ensure all judicial appeals were
exhausted.

''I think the Indonesian Government would be quite happy to
see the executions carried out -- they have symbolic
value,'' Dr Fealy said.

''But the primary thing driving them is that these people
are seen to receive due judicial process.

Prof Abuza said September's execution of three Christians
over sectarian killings in Poso in 2000 was designed to
minimise a Muslim backlash when the Bali bombers are put to
death.

''Clearly, the execution of the three Christians was a
counterbalance,'' Prof Abuza said, adding evidence against
two of them appeared very weak and their deaths might have
been a political move.

''The evidence against two of the three in normal
circumstances wouldn't have even gotten them life sentences,
let alone the death penalty.

''Moreover, not a single Muslim was even convicted for any
part of the sectarian violence.

''People like (JI recruiter) Abu Jibril or Umar Jafaar
Thalib, who led the bloodletting, got away absolutely scot
free.
''The three Christian guys were scapegoats.''

Prof Abuza said the shootout that killed JI bomb maker
Azahari bin Husin last year also netted a bomb stash, which
may have prevented bombings in the past two months.

''When they took down Azahari they found 33 bombs in various
states of construction,'' he said.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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